Car-oouplii



SAMUEL LECOMPTE, OF LEAVENWOETH COUNTY, KANSAS.

Letters Patent No. 73,984, dated February el, 1868.

IMPROVED' GAR-COUPLING.

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IG ALL WHOM I'l MAY GONGERN;

Be it known that I, SAMUEL D. LECOMPTE, of Leavenworth county, in theState of Kansas, have invented new and improved Self-OperatingCar-Coupler for Railroad-0ars; and I do hereby decla-re that thefollowing is a full and exact description thereof, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarkedthereon.

The nature of my invention consists in providing a vtripperg a springfabolt and tripper-supporter," and springholden the holders being set uponthe top of the bui-fer or bumper, and operating so as to sustain thebolt in 'an upright position immediately above the holes in the butler,and with its point in the upper hole, supported by the tripper, andready to fall into the holes instantly upon the tripper being forcedback by the ring.

Figure lis aside view oi' the car-coupler. l

Figure 2 is a view ir. section of the pair, theybeing similarlyconstructed.

Figure 3 is a front view of' the tripper. p v

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iproceed to describe its construction and operation. V

I make of suitable material (as iron) a buffer or bumper, in or nearlyof the form commonly in use for the coupling of cars, as seen in rigs.and 2. Upon the top of this, either constructed separately and attachedto it by suitable fastenings, or as a part of it, is placed the bolt andtripper-supporter B. Within this, and immediately above the'bolt-holes cof the buffer, is a perpendicular round hole, ofsuitablesze for the headof the bolt O to play up and down freely. Immediately back of this holeisa slot, within which hangs and plays the trippcr, of suitable size,`say one-third of the diameter of -the' hole'. Back of the upper hole ofthe buii'er is a corresponding slot, through which the tripper extendsand plays. Behind the tripper isa spring, securely fastened in thespring-holder, being the back part and covering of the bolt andtripper-holder. vThe tripper is marked by the letter el, the spring. bye, and its holder.r j". The spring vplays and presses upon the back oi'the tripper, so as to force it forward.v The tripper is suspended upon asmall bolt at g. It is so constructed and hung as to play freely in theslots above described. Below the slot, behind the top hole of thebumper, and in the opening or mouth of the bumper, it is prolongedforward by what may be called a jog, which serves for the bolt to restupon, when raised. It is also enlarged laterally, and also extendsdownwardv sufficiently to so fill the aperture of the butter as toprevent the ring from entering otherwise than by pressing it back, andrelieving the support of the bolt. In the lower part of this enlargedsurface of the tripper, which may be called its face, is a groove,within which the end of the ring will iall, and by means ci' which, onaccount of its shape, and oi the pressure of the spring upon it, theinner end of the ring will be kept in position, and thus the ring itselfbe kept from tilting, and retained in a nearly horizontal position, soas to enter the mouth of the bumper of an approaching ca r. The bolt hasa shank, extending from its head throngha slot, as seen at L, by meansof which' the bolt is raised for uncoupling. At the top oi' the slot isa. small offset, in the form of a lateral slot, within which the shankmay be turned, and thus the bolt be held up, whenever convenience mayrequire it to be so held, independently ofthe tripper, as in the case ofbumping-dif a cer from the track to a switch, or for any 4other purpose.When it may be desirable to run the cars together without coupling them,for the purpose of coupling, of course the bolt will rest upon thetripper. There is also a lateral oii'set at the vbottom of the slot lastmentioned, within which the shank of the'bolt will turn by its owngravity, and a little slant in the slot,

v or within which it may be turned, and secured by a small pin-,toprevent the possibility ofthe boit being josrtled out of its place. Thefirst is seen j; the other at Z.` v

Thus constructed, a ring and bolt are used for the couplingf, and theoperation of coupling is as follows The ring being in either one of thepair oi' bufers, its inner end, being an oblong, is kept in place by thevgroove in the 'lower part of the face of the tripper, and the sides 'ofthe bolt resting upon the at surface of the lower part oty the buffer,the ring is maintained in a nearly horizontal position, so as to strikewithin the slope oi' the mouth of the approaching bumper. Sestriking,'it glides 'within the mouth, presses back4 the trip-' per, andremoves the support which keeps up the bolt. The bolt,.no longersupported, instantly falls, and being retained in perpendicularpositionby the bolt-holder, ot' course falls directly through the ring,into and through the bottom hole of the bumper, and thus makes a securecoupling. The bumper -is attached, as now, or in any other approvedmode, to the cars, by mcansof bolts oi' otherwise through the shank mofthe bumper. Bumper" and bu'er are herein used as synonymous.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

y lThe bolt may have two shanks, one projecting through a slot on eachside of bolt and trippebsupporter,

and the Shanks so-curved on the outside as to make a good hold to thehand.

Other springs than of the particular form herein 'p esented may be used,and may be diiferently attached. A coiled spring o'r a cushion of Indiarubber may be placed back of the tripper, operating the same result; orthe tripper itself may operate by its own gravity, by reason of a rearprojection below the pivot, with suilicient heft to overcome the weightof its enlarged size within the aperture of the bumper. In this case, itwould need to be suspended upon a pivot, as near as practicable to thebolt. v AsY themost successful operation of the coupler will be when themeeting bumpersv are at the same height, it is proposed that, .whenevernecessary, the sha-nk of the bumper at It may be turned in the form of aknee or elbow, for the purpose. The top of the bolt andtripper-supporter will be securelyfastenefl, and will be'low enough to`prevent the bolt being raised so high as to unship the end ofthe boltfrom the top hole of the bumper, so that it cannot get out of position..The ring will be of suchlength that the edges of the bumpers of twoapproaching cars will meet before-both of the trippers are pressed tothe extremities of the slots, so that the 'bumpers themselves will takethe -force of the concussion; but it must be, at the same time, of suchlength, as

that one tripper being so pressed back, the other will be sufficientlyforced inward to relieve the bolt of its support -before the bumpersmeet.

Ido not limit myself` to the particular form or number of the Shanksofthe bolt, nor to the particular kind of spring, nor to the particularmanner or place of securing it, nor to the necessity of a spring, as thevarious forms of these above indicated have been by me adapted, each ofthem having some peculiar'advantages.

` I claim the combination of the .pivoted swinging bar d and the springc, hinged at'f, iu connection with the double-slotted bolt-holder B andshank-headed bolt O, when constructed and arranged substantially as andfor the purpose described. I v

SAM. D. LECOMPTE.

Witnesses:

lW. S. JENKINS,

A.' TUTTLE.

